Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

My uncle left a somewhat large estate to be handled by his godchild. There were 15 nieces and nephews left the residual (the godhild got the bulk of the estate) The executor (the godchild ahs changed lawyers twice and eaten up a lot fo the money she has also mismamged funds. - In the end we were all to get a distribution of $6,400. My sister was the last to receive her check and it went to the wrong address and took 2 months for her to receive it. When she cashed it the check bounced. The executor's husband only gave the explanation that the lawyer charged more than they thought and his wife did nto keep a balance on the account. Now there is only $4,000 left and they said they "might" send that to my sister. it has been a week and no money. Also, the executor's husband said it is our fault for claling the lawyer so much. However, we got no answers fromt he executor and no accounting was given for almost 2 years until we requested it. That accountign shwoed mroe than enough money int he account plus a residual we should be sharing in. Now they are also threatening to ask the other 13 for some money back to pay my sister either the difference or all of it. My sister cannot afford to hire a lawyer to handle this and wonder what is the recourse here. What can she do to get her money and can any of us do anything to rectify thsi without losing more money. These people seem to be frauds and have not produced paperwork to support their claims either as required by law. Help!


Asked on 12/13/09, 2:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

Are you sure you weren't calling the lawyer too much?? FYI -the lawyer is not required to report to each of the potential beneficiaries, only to the executor of the estate. The executor is entitled to be paid for executing the estate, and the executor MUST have a lawyer to file the probate petition. The executor must pay the costs of probate and all the deceadent's creditors BEFORE distributing any assets to the beneficiaries. If she distributed too soon, that can very likely be the problem. The check bouncing is problematic, but you have no evidence it was done in bad faith, much less by fraud. You also have no evidence that she mismanaged funds. If you want to spend your share of the inheritance on an attorney, you may be able to find out what happened. If all 15 of you want to pitch-in your share of the inheritance, you all can fight about it in court until all the money is gone. It's not worth fighting for, in my opinion.

FYI - I have a client who is fighting cancer and whose brother executed their mother's estate and ran off with my client's share of the estate, which is $100K. That's a claim worth pursuing.

Read more
Answered on 12/18/09, 2:53 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates questions and answers in Florida